Aug. 10 (Bloomberg) -- New Zealand police used the best
people for the job in conducting a raid on the home of
Megaupload.com founder Kim Dotcom and achieved what they wanted,
the officer in charge of the operation testified.

The January raid with two helicopters and 27 police
officers, some armed with assault rifles and gas canisters, was
an attack on the freedoms guaranteed to New Zealand residents
under the country’s bill of rights, Dotcom’s lawyer Paul Davison
responded yesterday, on the third day of a hearing in Auckland
High Court.

“Police aren’t every day going into houses armed to the
teeth,” Davison said. “That’s not the ordinary police practice
around the country.”

Dotcom, accused of orchestrating the biggest copyright
infringement in U.S. history, is attempting to prove the search
and seizure of his rented home in New Zealand as unreasonable
under the country’s bill of rights. The claim is part of his
attempt to recover computers and hard drives taken by police,
which he said are needed to prepare a defense for a March
extradition hearing to the U.S. on charges of criminal copyright
fraud and racketeering.

Detective Inspector Grant Wormald, who supervised the
planning and the operation of the raid, said weeks were spent
assessing the best way to carry out the arrests of Dotcom and
his associates and the potential threats officers would face.

‘Real Risk’

Dotcom had been caught speeding at 149 kilometers an hour
(93 miles per hour) in his car, footage was posted on the
Internet of him driving through a police checkpoint, images of
him posing with shotguns were available and there was a “real
risk” he or his associates could destroy evidence, Wormald
said.

As a result police concluded they needed to use helicopters
to execute a swift entry into Dotcom’s mansion in an Auckland
suburb and make quick arrests, he said. The country’s Special
Tactics Group, a SWAT-like team, are the only police officers
qualified to use helicopters, he said.

“They were the best people for the job,” Wormald said.

Wormald said there was no precedent to use the STG in New
Zealand on a fraud-like charge with no threat of violence.

New Zealand residents are guaranteed freedom from
unreasonable search and seizure by Section 21 of the country’s
bill of rights, Davison said.

“The household is a haven and a private place,” Davison
said. “Sanctity of that is not to be intruded upon.”

Donation Refused

Davison said Dotcom had been cooperative with police in the
past and even offered to donate a car to the police force.

“I doubt very much police would accept the offer,”
Wormald said, adding that a NZ$60,000 ($49,000) car donation
could be seen as potentially buying favors.

“That’s a very cynical interpretation,” Davison
responded.

Earlier, Allan Langille, supervising analyst at New Zealand
police’s electronic crime laboratory, testified the force seized
almost everything in the home that could store digital
information.

“I didn’t know what evidence they were looking for,”
Langille said referring to the FBI, who had requested New
Zealand’s help in carrying out the arrests and seizures.

Dotcom, 38, was indicted in what U.S. prosecutors dubbed a
“Mega Conspiracy,” accusing his file-sharing website of
generating more than $175 million in criminal proceeds from the
exchange of pirated film, music, book and software files. He
faces as long as 20 years in prison for each of the racketeering
and money-laundering charges in the indictment, with the U.S.
seeking his extradition for a trial in Virginia.

Pregnant Wife

During the day of the raid, Dotcom’s then-pregnant wife,
expecting twins, began to have contractions and sought to go to
a hospital, Davison said. Police refused to provide
transportation and only offered to call the emergency 111 number
to summon an ambulance, he said.

“You come on their property,” seize all their
communication, all their mobile phones, all their cars “and all
you were doing is facilitating a 111 call,” Davison told
Detective Sergeant Stephen Humphries, who was in charge of
executing the search warrant and dealing with the family and
staff. “That’s a pathetic response.”

“We’re police officers, not medical staff,” Humphries
responded. He said if Mrs. Dotcom had been in medical trouble
police would have helped.

Police seized 123 items during the raid, from mobile
phones, to routers, as well as hard drives and computers,
Davison said, with the FBI conducting all analysis on the seized
devices.

Name Changed

“The impression I had was there was potentially evidence
on any digital storage device,” Langille testified.

Dotcom, who was born in Germany and legally changed his
name from Kim Schmitz, had testified Aug. 7 some of the digital
storage devices contained more than 350 hours of personal videos
and pictures.

“Every aspect of our life has been documented over the
past 10 years,” he said.

Justice Helen Winkelmann had ruled June 28 that police had
relied on illegal warrants that were overly broad.

The case is between Kim Dotcom and Attorney-General. Civ
2012-404-1928. High Court of New Zealand (Auckland).